Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif met Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Wednesday and discussed wide range of issues including cases initiated by NAB against members of Sharif family, sources said. During the meeting, matters pertaining to the PML-N also came under discussion. Views were also exchanged over the Electoral Reforms Bill which allows even a disqualified MNA to become a party president, the sources claimed.
Nawaz Sharif reached Lahore on Tuesday after appearing before accountability court in Islamabad while Shahbaz Sharif has reached Lahore from London early Wednesday morning. During his visit to London, Shahbaz inquired after the health of Kulsoom Nawaz and met former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif as well. He also met PML-N London delegation. The sources claim that both the Sharifs want to strengthen the party and focus on general elections 2018.
On the other hand, Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah told media that the whole nation was witnessing NAB proceeding and knows well what was going on. "NAB was ordered to file reference and it has filed. But, the allegation seemingly does not carry much weight. There should be certain reasoning for leveling an allegation," he said, adding: "It was for the first time that a joint investigation team was constituted in such a case. That is why we had objections on members of the JIT and our objections were validated by remarks of a judge of the apex court about integrity of one of the JIT members in another case." Sanaullah said the whole nation was looking this process with concern and questions as to who would be responsible for the losses being inflicted on the country.
He further said that allegation against Ishaq Dar of having Rs 831 million assets beyond income seems frivolous. "He has been a Chartered Accountant (CA) and international CAs draw salaries in millions. Moreover, property prices increased manifold. Therefore, such a charge against a person like Dar seems frivolous," he said.
Answering a question about restricting media during NAB case hearing against Ishaq Dar, Rana said, the government could not intervene when the matter relates to court premises. "Within the court premises, the entry of anybody is discretion of the court and it has to decide whether to hold open hearing or in a closed door court room," he added.
He further stated that there was no reason with the government to bar media because firstly it did not want to hide anything from media and secondly all information to be discussed in the court was already with the media in the forms of copies of the references.